Cuba to ration more products due to economic crisis, US sanctions

SUMMARY

Communist-run Cuba said on Friday it would control more the sales of certain foodstuff and hygiene products, including adding some back to the ration card, due to shortages that it blamed partly on the tightening of the US trade embargo.

By ReutersMay 11, 2019 6:02:36 PM IST (Published)

People buy goods in a state store in downtown Havana, Cuba. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

People wait in line to buy goods in a state store in downtown Havana. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Shop shelves on the Caribbean's largest island have been increasingly empty of late with the scarcity of basic products such as eggs, flour and chicken, and massive, hours-long queues for them whenever they come into stock. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Cuba imports 60 to 70 percent of its food. A handful of agricultural reforms in recent years have failed to boost output in its inefficient, centrally-planned economy, which also suffers from a decades-old US trade embargo. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

People wait in line to buy sweets in a state store in downtown Havana. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini